After playing the Sparta Spartans 65 times in the last 66 years (and probably even longer) the Cedar Springs Red Hawks faced the Spartans for the last time this past Thursday. Sparta had asked to end their contract with Cedar Springs, saying the matchup was not “favorable to Sparta.” In this final rivalry game, Cedar ended the game with a significant 35-7 win.

The Hawks started the game off strong and held off the Spartans. With 4 minutes and 34 seconds left of the first quarter, Red Hawk junior John Todd made a run down the middle and scored Cedar’s first touchdown. After a successful two-point conversion pass from senior quarterback Collin Alvesteffer to another senior, Austin Basso, the Hawks were up 8-0. Cedar kept the lead on the Spartans with some great defensive efforts by sophomore Ryan Ringler and John Todd.

Early in the second quarter, senior Jacob Hooker made a long run in for a touchdown with 10 minutes and 31 seconds left. After a successful extra point, the Hawks were up 15-0. Cedar continued to shut down any of Sparta’s attempts with great tackles by Collin Alvesteffer, John Todd, and Austin Basso. At the end of the first half, the score remained 15-0.

The combined efforts of the offense and defense kept the Red Hawk momentum going in the third quarter. Tackles by junior Nathan Patin, senior Dustin Shaw, sophomore Lucas Pienton, senior Jaron Spencer and senior Thomas Hill kept the Spartans at bay. Runs by Jacob Hooker and pass deflections by Dustin Shaw and Lucas Pienton kept both the team and the fans energized. Ryan Ringler’s incredible 65-yard touchdown and Cedar’s successful point after at the end of third quarter made the score 22-0.

Cedar marched downfield in the fourth quarter with runs by Ryan Ringler, Jacob Hooker, and Collin Alvesteffer. Alvesteffer made a four-yard touchdown run with nine minutes left in the game. The two-point conversion was no good, but Cedar remained on top 28-0. Sparta snuck in a long run and a touchdown with six minutes 44 seconds left in the game, making the game 28-7. Cedar continued to push and Dustin Shaw got a touchdown and point after in with four minutes left, making it 35-7. The Hawks weren’t letting another touchdown go past them and they shut down the Spartans’ offense for the rest of the game.

Coach Gus Kapolka knows the Red Hawks still have some things to work on.

“After a sluggish start, I thought we played much better in the second half,” he said. “I’m disappointed in the number of penalties that we had, so it’s something that we will have to clean up for this week.”

The Red Hawks head to Greenville to take on the Greenville Yellow Jackets this Friday, September 9, and then will host Northview on Friday, September 16, the first home game of the season.

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The Girl’s Varsity Golf Team shot a 225 at Indian Trails and finished 6th in the OK white jamboree. Courtney Pienta was medalist with a 52, Michaela Tawney 54, Audrie Davis 58 and Mallory Shevock 61 (Carrigan Clark 71, MacKenzie Clark 73). “This was our best team score of the season,” said Coach London. “Our goal is to simply get better as October gets near.”

Everything in the game of football, from a rules-making perspective, starts and ends with an increased focus on player safety.

One big point of emphasis for the 2016 season centers on equipment being worn properly by all players. Too often we see college and pro players, especially those at the skill positions, wearing football pants that come nowhere close to covering the knee area.

With a continued focus on all high school players to lower the target zone when hitting an opponent to keep the head out of football, kids must wear pants with knee pads that completely cover the knee area to avoid those types of injuries.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

The Cedar Springs Red Hawks Varsity football team showed everyone last Thursday night that they won’t back down from a challenge. They needed someone to play the first week, and state champion Zeeland West needed an opponent. So they said yes. And come game time, they surprised a lot of people with how well they kept the Dux at bay. In fact, the Red Hawks did something no other team has done in two years—they kept them scoreless in the first half, and only allowed 14 points the whole game. And that’s on a team that generally scores 30-70 points each game. The Red Hawks went into half leading 3-0, but ultimately lost the game 14-9.

“I couldn’t be happier with the effort of our team, but obviously we are disappointed in the result,” said Head Coach Gus Kapolka. “We had opportunities to win the game and just came up a little short. This game will make us stronger moving forward, and we will be a better team for having played a team the caliber of Zeeland West.”

Click here for an article on the game by student reporter Maddie Nichols.

Red Hawks take down the Zeeland West ball carrier. Photo by K. Alvesteffer/R. LaLone.

By Maddie Nichols

This past Thursday, August 25 , the Cedar Springs Red Hawks varsity football team traveled from Cedar Springs to Zeeland West to compete with the Dux for their first game of the season. The intensity, offensively and defensively, from both sides stayed consistent throughout the whole game. However, in the end, the Red Hawks fell short with a final score of 14-9.

The first quarter may have finished without scoring from either side, but senior Collin Alvesteffer had some major tackles that led to shutting down the Dux’s offense. Going into the second quarter, the combination of tackling from Alvesteffer and Junior John Todd took Zeeland down. With two minutes left of the first half, senior Dustin Shaw had a successful 22-yard field goal attempt, concluding the second quarter with the Red Hawks up 3-0.

After a long 10 minute drive from Zeeland West in the third quarter, the Red Hawks were left to hold the Dux at the 1-yard line. The Hawks give up the touchdown after a second attempt making them fall behind 8-3.

Right away in the fourth quarter, Collin Alvesteffer made a 34-yard touchdown to up the score 9-8. Both teams fought hard during the rest of the game. Great tackles from senior Austin Basso held back the Dux until the Red Hawks lost them defensively and the Dux got a touchdown after their fourth attempt, with 1 minute and 43 seconds left of the game. After a failed two-point conversion, the score was 14-9, Dux up by 5.

The Red Hawks came back with a strong offensive drive. With great efforts from John Todd, Collin Alvesteffer, and sophomore Ryan Ringler, the Hawks kept possession of the ball and got to the Dux 18-yard line. A 5-yard penalty against the Dux gave Cedar Springs more hope towards getting into the end zone. With only 2.8 seconds left on the clock, the Red Hawks fell short with an incomplete pass, concluding the game with a Hawk loss, 14-9.

Tonight, Thursday, September 1, the Red Hawks travel to Sparta to take on the Spartans at 7 p.m. Next week Friday, September 9, they travel to Greenville.

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Play Clock Experiment

From time to time, the MHSAA receives permission from the national rules making body, the National Federation of State High School Associations, to experiment with a new rule.

This fall in high school football, Michigan schools can experiment with a 40-second play clock.

In this experiment, the 40-second play clock begins at the end of the previous play, giving teams consistency from week to week when the offense can next snap the ball.

With using the traditional 25-second play clock, it really depends on the referee of the game in terms of the pace on how quickly the offenses can go.

Be the Referee is a weekly message from the Michigan High School Athletics Association that is designed to help educate people on the rules in different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.